1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention relate primarily to the field of waste management and, more particularly, to systems and methods for identifying and collecting hazardous and/or special waste items.
2. Background Description
Waste management companies provide residential, commercial, and municipal waste management and recycling services for communities and organizations. Customers can range from single residences to entire towns or companies. Municipalities may contract with, or other wise engage, a waste management service provider to handle their municipal solid waste (“MSW”). MSW is garbage, refuse, recyclables and other discarded materials that result from residential, commercial, industrial, and community activities. MSW does not include, for example, hazardous waste, animal waste used as fertilizer, or sewage sludge.
Often, residential or commercial customers put waste other than MSW into a waste container. Such waste can generally be termed “banned waste” that must be disposed of properly in order to comply with local, state and/or federal laws and regulations.
One type of banned waste is referred to as hazardous waste. As used herein, hazardous waste is a waste with properties that make it dangerous or potentially harmful to human health or the environment. The universe of hazardous wastes is large and diverse. Hazardous wastes can be liquids, solids, contained gases, or sludges. They can be the by-products of manufacturing processes or simply discarded commercial products, like cleaning fluids or pesticides.
In regulatory terms, a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) hazardous waste is a waste that appears on one of the four hazardous wastes lists (F-list, K-list, P-list, or U-list), or exhibits at least one of four characteristics—ignitability, corrosivity, reactivity, or toxicity. Hazardous waste is regulated under the RCRA Subtitle C.
Another type of banned waste referred to as “special waste” can include items such as household hazardous waste, bulky wastes (refrigerators, pieces of furniture, etc.) tires, and used oil. State and local governments regulate both hazardous and special waste to ensure proper transport and disposal. Generally, only properly permitted and regulated companies are authorized to remove and dispose of these types of waste.
Both hazardous and special wastes are also regulated by local and state governments to ensure, for example, that proper transport and disposal procedures are followed. Often, customers co-mingle banned waste with standard MSW. Generally, only properly permitted and regulated companies are authorized to remove and dispose of these types of waste. If such a waste carrier picks up these banned waste items, either knowingly or unwittingly, the waste carrier may be violating of one or more operating permits and is subject to various penalties, such as monetary fines and/or suspension of one or more permits.
Commonly, for the collection of refuse, a waste management service places waste containers for use at a plurality of customer sites. Waste container types are diverse in the industry and can include, for example, residential or commercial large-volume metal containers such as dumpsters, roll-off containers, rolling lift (or tip) carts, and/or other types of containers.
Conventional processes for tracking the collection of banned waste at various customer sites are largely manually intensive and paper-based, requiring various personnel to handle and process the paper records. Such manual processes are cumbersome and prone to human error.
For example, personnel not properly trained and/or licensed to handle or remove a particular type of waste may inadvertently handle or remove such waste. The lack of cross-checking and immediate feedback in conventional systems may result in unauthorized personnel removing such waste, thereby creating health and/or safety risks to themselves and others. We have discovered that there exists a need to automate the manner in which banned waste is identified, in a manner that would reduce cost, enhance safety, and comply or facilitate compliance with applicable health and safety laws and regulations.